Surprises
by lifethatyouhate
Summary: Akari never fails to surprise Bo on his birthday, whether it be a good surprise or a bad surprise.


Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or anything associated with it.

On Summer 2, Akari never failed to surprise Bo.

It was strange, how he never even saw it coming. On his sixteenth birthday, only 31 days after she had moved to the island, she showed up at the Praline Forest late that night, when he had finished working and was relaxing on his own, her light footsteps surprising him already. He had jumped up, thinking it was Luke (who, if he was stepping so softly, had to be trying to sneak up on him, in which case Bo _had _to get ready), only to see the sweet faced new farmer holding a green bell flower in front of him.

"Hu..huh?" he had asked her, his head cocked to the side. "Akari…how did you even get this? It only grows in winter…and…why did you get it?"

Akari merely smiled. "That's for me to know, and for you to find out," she teased. "And it's for you, silly. Today is your birthday, right? I didn't get it wrong?"

He had taken the flower, of course. His favorite thing in the world. When he used to live back home, his mother had grown fields and fields of green bell flowers. When she had died, he had been sent to live with Dale, and as he had gotten older, he had become an apprentice. Sometimes it was hard to even remember his mother, in fact…and yet that little green flower brought it all back.

He couldn't help but smile back at her. "Wow, Akari. Yeah, it is. It's just…I didn't think you would know what date my birthday is. Or…know that this is my favorite thing."

"Well, Luke told me," she smiled, and Bo grinned knowingly. He had seen the boy he had grown to be best friends with walking along with the new girl, had seen him give his favorite axe to her without hesitation on her first day, had seen her show up, shyly handing him a small present. And yet, nothing ever came of it. Maybe nothing would. "And I asked your dad what you would like."

"Oh…he's not my dad. Just my boss, technically. But, thanks. That's really nice of you," Bo told her, his smile faltering just a bit at her assumption.

Akari looked embarrassed. "Oh, sorry. Well, you're welcome, Bo. How old are you now, anyways?"

Bo felt guilty as he looked at her little frown, her bright eyes, her apologetic face, as if he was the one who had made the wrong guess. "It's okay, don't worry about it," he told her, smiling again. It was easy to see what his best friend saw in the kind girl. "I'm sixteen now."

"Sweet sixteen…awesome!" she laughed, and then paused for a moment, thoughtfully adding on, "I turned eighteen a couple seasons ago. We're only about two years apart."

Luke was eighteen, too. Maybe that was why they got along so well, Bo figured. "Huh. I thought you were a little bit older." At her face, he added on, "Not that you look older! Just that, well, you're living on your own, and you're out here with a farm and all kinds of stuff…"

"Well, I wanted to start fresh. Waffle Island seemed the perfect place," she responded cheerfully.

Bo wanted to ask her why, but decided not too. They had hardly ever talked, and to dive into a serious conversation would be a little too soon, considering they hardly knew each other. "Well, I'm glad you came," he answered instead. "And thanks again, for the present." He couldn't get over the flower in his hands. It wasn't much, he knew that, he knew that flowers didn't generally make a person so happy, but he hardly ever got presents. Luke gave him a spinach cake, which he didn't even like, and Dale got him a new axe, like he did every year. To have a genuine present that he actually liked hadn't occurred in a long time.

"You're welcome. I have to run, but I'll see you another day. I hope the last few hours of your birthday are good!" she told him cheerily, running off before she had even finished, and waving back at him over her shoulder.

"Bye!" Bo called, and when Luke showed up a few minutes later to coax him into blowing out the candles on his present, he raised an eyebrow at the gift.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing at the flower.

The smile still hadn't left Bo's face. "Akari gave it to me, for my birthday. Isn't that nice? She hardly even knows me, and she still got me a present."

"Akari was over here?" Luke gaped. "Aw, man. She didn't even stop by and say hi…" the boy frowned, which was a rare occurrence for the young carpenter, who spent most of his days showing off, laughing and telling jokes. For some awful reason, this made Bo feel even better.

Akari stopped by at the carpenters often. In fact, Dale called her his best customer, telling her she should get an award for the business she gave them- "That girl stops by at least every week!" Bo's boss admonished. And Bo didn't mind. He and Luke were the ones who helped build her chicken coop when Dale broke his arm and they were the ones who took over furniture and helped out with anything that needed to be fixed.

And then, the next year, Bo's birthday inevitably rolled around again. On Summer 2, he woke up to find his best friend bouncing up and down with another spinach cake. He headed down the stairs where his boss barked out his most sincere "Happy birthday!" and told him where his new axe was waiting, and then he headed into the forest with Luke for another day of work.

And, once again, Akari bounced up along the path.

"Akari!" Luke said cheerfully when she showed up, and the two looked at each other for a moment, grinning, before the brunette farmer bypassed the blue-haired boy and headed straight for Bo, a very familiar flower in her hands.

"Happy seventeenth birthday, Bo!" she told him excitedly, holding out the green bell flower with calloused hands. She had dirt under her fingernails and her shoes seemed to be permanently coated with mud, but Bo still thought the smile that she gave him was cute as she tried to covertly blow the bangs out of her face.

"Wow, Akari…thanks! This is so nice!" Bo gaped. For some reason, he had thought that maybe Akari's present to him was a flux. She was probably like that with everyone, he thought to himself. Probably won't do it again. And as his birthday loomed before him, he had nearly forgotten the lifeless green bell flower that remained in his cabinet, the petals all shriveled and dry beside the wilted stem, and had thought only of the girl who had gave it to him and her frequent visits to Dale's Carpentry.

The girl grinned at him, laughing when he took it from her hands, his fingers brushing temporarily against hers. "You seem so surprised. I did the same thing last year, remember?" she asked, setting her hands on her hips before she finally relented and tried to pin the bangs from her forehead.

Bo laughed as the bangs hit her face again. "I guess I just forgot. Sorry. But this is…this is really nice, Akari. Thanks," he smiled at her.

"No problem. I just want you to have a good birthday, kid," she told him, and his spirits drooped a bit as she reminded him that she was nineteen years old now, and he was still a lowly seventeen. Next year she wouldn't even be a teenager anymore, and he would be relishing his eighteenth birthday.

Luke appeared at the farmers side, and the two shared another smile. "Wow, Akari. That's really nice of you. How do you get _those _flowers though? I tried once, but they only have 'em in the winter."

Once again, the girl smiled, and with a wink at Bo she told him, "That's for me to know, and for you to find out."

Luke rolled his eyes teasingly, and he opened his mouth to reply when the carpenter's father's booming voice rang out. "Luke! I need you real fast!" The boy sighed and then said, "Well, gotta run. See you later Akari- come in when you're done, Bo, okay?"

When the blonde nodded the boy smiled once more at him and Akari and then sprinted off lightning fast, surprising his best friend by not tripping. Luke wasn't the most graceful of boys.

He was staring after his friend when the farmer in front of him reminded him of her presence by saying shyly, "Hey, Bo? Can I ask you a question? It's kind of personal…"

Bo swallowed as his heart started to pound in his chest. "Um, sure, Akari. Go ahead. Ask me whatever you want, and I'll try to answer it." He didn't care that he was babbling, because _Akari _was in front of him, and she actually wanted to ask _him _something. Not Luke, not any other guy on the island, but seventeen-year-old him.

"Um…well, I've been thinking about what you said last year…what's your family like? Your dad, and your mom?" her face looked apologetic, but she eagerly waited for the answer. Bo could tell that she really was curious, but that didn't stop his smile from fading instantly. She looked even more guilty after that, stammering, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked, just forget it…"

And how was he supposed to tell her that the look on his face had nothing to do with his parents? "Oh, no, it's okay…it's…well my mom died seven years ago. I came here to live with Dale. Old family friend, or something of the like. I'm not really sure. And my dad…well, he died before I was born. So I never really got a chance to meet him. Dale is sort of like my dad, but…not the same."

Akari nodded her head and set her hand on his shoulder sympathetically, causing his heartbeat to race again, despite the sadness he felt as his story retold itself over and over in his head. It was sad, to miss his mother, to miss all that she had done, but it felt completely different from missing his father. His mother he ached for. He ached for the things she did, how she was, and the little things; like the smell of her perfume and the flowers she grew. But he didn't know anything about fathers, and so all he knew was that he was missing out- and he was painfully reminded as he watched Luke and his father tease each other, heard their heartfelt apologies after another row, saw them hug each other when Luke did something that made his dad particularly proud.

"I'm sorry, Bo. That's really too bad…I'm sorry," the brunette told him, rubbing his shoulder gently before she returned her hand to herself, leaving his shoulder cold once more.

"It's okay, really." In a way, it was, and in a way, it never would be. Though he had spent seven years healing from his loss, he still had the rest of his life to think about it. "Can I…ask you a question?"

It wasn't the main question he would have wanted her to answer, but there was something that he had wondered about since his last birthday, and when she nodded her head, he asked her softly, "Why did you move to Waffle Island? You said you wanted a fresh start but…why?"

"Oh," the girl laughed a bit. "Sorry, I always get nervous when someone asks if they can ask me a question. Well, it's just…I had a good family, but I had a lot of trouble back in the city. I never really fit in, I was so upset there…and when I found my old boyfriend with my best friend, that sealed the deal. I wanted something new. And, well, I always wanted to live in a small town-I heard that people got along better, and that they were really close…and my grandfather was a great farmer. I wanted to follow in his footsteps."

"Oh," Bo said as well. "I'm…sorry about…the stuff in the city. But, well, if you're happy here…" he paused, and she nodded her head encouragingly, "then I'm glad. I'm glad you came to live here."

Perhaps the words didn't mean as much to her as they did to him, because when they finally got out he was blushing furiously and she was simply smiling at him. "Thank you, Bo. I'm glad I came to live here too. I've met so many people! And I really love my farm, and now I'm getting animals and- oh man!" she exclaimed. "I forgot to go check on them! I've got to go, Bo. I'll see you later!"

Before he got a chance to say good bye, once again she sprinted away, heading through the shortcut that Luke had opened up for her during her first season on the island.

In the time that came, he had hopefully looked forward to his next birthday, anticipating another flower from the day that his green bell finally wilted, perched next to its equally dead sibling. "You should throw those away," Luke noted, but Bo never did, and always stubbornly kept them in their place.

But time went on and he rarely saw Akari. She stopped by to get a barn built, but Dale did it, and Luke was always floating in late at night saying, "Oh, Akari came to get a tool fixed today. I've got to take it to her tomorrow," or "I hung out with Akari today in the forest. She said to tell you she said hi."

And Bo found himself stupidly thinking about the year before, when she spent all her time at Dale's Carpentry, and he had thought that maybe she wanted to see him. "Two years older than me," he cursed himself. "What was I thinking?"

So when his next birthday rolled around, Bo, as usual, wasn't expecting to see the farmer.

But there she was, late as always, running up to him with a green bell flower. Luke had headed home to 'prepare his surprise,' which meant light the candles on the cake nobody but him ate. "Bo!" she called, as if he couldn't see her running with the flower as if she had just won a race and was carrying the torch around for the final lap.

When she finally reached him, she doubled over, panting for only a moment before she bounced up and shoved the flower at him with one of her innocent smiles. He had seen her only about twice a season for the past year and talked to her even less, and throughout that entire year she hadn't aged a bit. She was still the pretty, kind faced farmer with dirt under her fingernails and a permanent smile. "Happy eighteenth birthday! You're legal now," she teased him.

His cheeks lit up instantly. He hadn't really thought about that. She was no longer a teenager, as he had anticipated before, but a new realization hit him- they were both adults. "Thanks, Akari. I…I really didn't expect this," he told her honestly, grinning wider than ever as he took the green bell flower in his own hands. What once reminded him solely of his mother now brought two sweet smiling faces to his mind instead of just one when he saw it growing in the winter, and it had the same effect when he held it in his hands.

She rolled her eyes playfully, grinning at him. "How could you be surprised? I've gotten you a green bell flower for your birthday for _three _years now, silly."

Bo grinned back at her, chuckling. "I know, but, I just haven't seen you around that much lately…I mean, Luke always told me that you said hi and stuff, but I hardly ever actually talked to you or saw you."

Akari's playful expression softened into a small, apologetic smile. "I'm really sorry Bo. I've just been so busy lately! I mean, I have eight chickens, four cows, four sheep, a horse, a dog, and my field is _full _of crops and by the time I finish visiting everyone in the town it's nearly four, and so I go mining for a little bit and then when I come out I always seem to…run into Luke. I'm sorry, though. Really. I'll come stop by more often."

"Good," Bo said, but she wasn't done there.

"Next year, I'm going to bring a green bell flower on your birthday, so no surprises! Okay? I promise. You won't be surprised, because it's just gonna be me and you and…your present, of course," she added on, laughing to herself. Before Bo could even answer however, she gasped and said, "Speaking of my animals, I still have to get them back into their homes and to sleep! Man, I always seem to forget about them with you, huh?" she asked teasingly. "I'll see you later, Bo!"

Akari did come by more often, cheering Bo up every time he had to repair something of her's, or deliver a new purchase. Luke still floated in often saying that he had just seen her and that she had said "hi," but it didn't bother him as much. Because they had made a promise, he remembered fondly and often. A promise that he would get his birthday present. And maybe, maybe, _he _would surprise _her_. Because when he was nineteen, and she was twenty-one…that seemed much closer than sixteen and eighteen had seemed all those years ago.

On his birthday, the second Luke woke him up, Bo thought of Akari. _Maybe she'll come really early_, he thought to himself, but no. The morning's festivities were limited to Dale telling him where he could find his new axe and Luke deciding to cut a slice of the cake and let him eat it in the morning because, "Today is just a really good day, and I want it to be a good day for you too, starting now, so you can have your cake early, I mean today is _awesome_, don't you think? Because I can't stop thinking about how great today is, and how great all the rest of our days will be…" and he didn't stop rambling there.

But Bo ate the cake he hated because Luke was so happy, and because he was happy too. Because it was his birthday, it was his day. He was going to tell Akari that he liked her, and things were going to work in his favor.

He waited all day for her to show up, but she came late as usual, though Luke was there. _Hopefully he'll leave_, Bo hoped, feeling guilty though he kept on wishing that he would get his moment alone, that he would _finally _get a chance to tell her how he felt.

But she wasn't carrying his flower like always. She wasn't even walking towards him until she realized he was there, turning her route quickly from Luke and to him with red cheeks as she approached him, smiling. "Hey Bo," she told him cheerfully.

The blonde stared at her. "Uh…" he said, and then she hit herself in the head.

"Oh, man, sorry. Don't worry. I didn't forget. It's your birthday. Happy birthday! Here you go," she reached over her shoulder into her pack and pulled out his green bell flower, and he forgot her slip up and took it with a big grin like always.

When he looked back up though, he saw that Luke was at the farmer's side. Before he even got a chance to thank her, his best friend spoke.

"Hey, Bo…okay, I'm sorry I didn't tell you yesterday-,"

"But I wanted to be here when he did! You're the first person we wanted to tell," Akari told him with a big grin.

Luke shoved her playfully and then slipped his arm around her waist, and Bo's smile somehow stayed on his face. _No surprises_, he kept thinking to himself over and over again. _No surprises, no surprises. _"Akari and I," Luke started, grinning at the petite brunette. He opened his mouth to speak, and then…

"We're engaged!" Akari exclaimed, grabbing Bo's wrists and giving him her biggest smile yet. "Isn't that fantastic? I know I said no surprises on your birthday, but this is a _good _surprise, right? Well, I guess the presents were too, but…oh, forget it. Surprise!"

Bo stared at her, stunned, and then finally he stammered, "F-fantastic…yeah…" and with the happiest (fakest) expression he could muster, he repeated, "Surprise!"

Luke and Akari smiled at each other, smiled like they had smiled at each other all those times, and then Bo thought about the morning, the slice of cake he had eaten to cheer his best friend up. Luke had been babbling like that because he was excited about getting married. And he had thought, only a couple years ago, that maybe she was such a good customer because she wanted to see him. When she said he was legal, he had thought that maybe she liked him.

He'd never felt so stupid in his entire life.

"You're going to be my best man, right?" Luke asked, clapping him on the back and then pulling him into a hug. "I want my best friend right by my side at all times. Promise?"

_Promise_, Bo thought, staring at Akari's innocent, happy face from Luke's shoulder. His best friend was happy, and she was happy, and, well…that was the most important thing, right?

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Bo teased, his lie repeating itself in his head over and over again as Luke grinned and shook him.

"I'm getting married! It's insane, isn't it? I'm just so happy!" he exclaimed, picking Akari up and sweeping her around in a circle as her laughter rang throughout the forest.

Bo smiled as well. "Insane," he repeated softly, looking down at his green bell flower in his hands, and watching his best friend and Akari spinning so fast they looked like a blur…an untouchable blur.

On Summer 2, Akari never failed to surprise Bo.

Author's Note: I couldn't really think of a good ending…so I decided to end with the first sentence again. Sorry if you guys don't like it. And I'm not positive Summer 2 is Bo's birthday, but I think it is. I looked it up and I saw Summer 2 twice and Fall 2 once so I just went with Summer haha. I'm sort of thinking of adding on more chapters, but I'm not sure. Might just let it be a one-shot. Might add on something more so Bo would get a happy ending (but let me warn you, not with Akari. Sorry, that won't happen). I've been playing around with this idea for a long time, but I finally decided to just write it out and I like it. I love Luke, but I always thought it was sad for Bo to just watch his best friend marry this girl and what if he liked her too and yeah. Haha I hope you guys liked it. Thanks for reading! :)


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